I know I'll sound like an old fart whining (which I am...an old fart), but everytime I change oil in my '16 F150 I cuss the Ford engineers for a good 20 minutes. I've never seen such a cluster-_____ in how to change oil in a vehicle.

I've got an Explorer, and a diesel tractor, and it's not near as difficult to change oil in them as it is in the F150.

They obviously don't understand that not all of us DIY'ers have hydraulic lifts built into our garages. I only have a pair of ramps, and they work great on the other vehicles, and have for decades.

Ford sure ignored us handymen when they engineered this catastrophe. I'm not 35 years old anymore, and can't contort myself at will, to remove the damper shield (which in my opinion) is worthless if you hit anything of significance.

I know some of you think it's no big deal, but when you get to my age, you'll think differently.

Had to vent...(Ford sure as hell won't listen)

Don't get me wrong. I love the truck otherwise, but this is a major pain in the patoot.

 

F150 is a piece of cake. Wanna see a real cluster.... Try a new Escape. The wife bought a 2017 Escape Titanium. You need a tool chest and a lift just to get the bottom aero pan off of the damn thing. Then you can get to the bottom of the engine. Since it's her car and the dealer is a personal friend, guess who changes her oil?......and it ain't me.

 

I have to remove about 15 screws and 3 push pins to remove the pan from under the front of my wife's 2013 Infiniti EX37. Once I get it off, the oil change is as easy as it could be. My Dodge Magnum Hemi also has a pan under the engine but only has about half that many screws holding it on.

 

You really don't save much money doing your own oil changes. I stopped doing mine 20 years ago. I go to a shop that lets me bring my own oil and filter, and he charges me $20 to change it and give it a lube job and full inspection.

It's not worth the hassle to me any more, plus these days you have to deal with legal disposal of the drain oil and old filter.

 

I'm starting to think the same way, but there is nothing like doing it yourself.

Then there is the OP's note: "I'm not 35 years old anymore." Me either. Have you rotated the tires lately...
That Mick Jagger guy was right. "What a drag it is getting old, na, na, na, na, na, na."

 

I am same way. I was changing my own oil on our last two cars, but decided to take the two in we have now because they are under warranty. I bring in the oil to the dealer and they change it. My Ford dealer does it for $14 plus filter. So, some oil at Walmart, the labor and filter and I am just slightly above what I would pay for their works package. I get the tires rotated and balanced at Discount Tire, so don't need that done there anyways. I always did like doing it myself and having the satisfaction of a job well done type of feeling, but as I get older, I am getting ok with letting them do it as long as I can bring in my own.

 

I do save a little doing my own oil changes. I collect the oil in a 5 gallon gas can and when it gets full I empty it at Autozone which is less than 1/4 mile away. I also collect things like old antifreeze and take it to the county disposal site once in a blue moon. Sam's Club rotates and balances my tires for no extra charge every 10k miles or so. So far at age 73 I can still get under my vehicles and do what I need to do. I exercise to try to stay that way.

 

I pay under $35 for a full synthetic oil change when done here at the house. The cheapest change I can find locally with regular oil is about $25. Plus I know it's been done right and how much oil drained out of the engine - this way I can tell if I'm losing any between changes. Then I just pour the old oil into the container I just filled up from until I go buy my next 5qt bottle (plus 1qt) and dump it in their return.
After having two oil changes botched by shops I quit trusting in them.

 

Trust is important. The guy I take mine to is a Ford certified master technician that used to be the lead tech at the Ford dealer, he quit and opened his own shop.

 

Remove the composite shield and the oil drain plug is right there. The filter is easy to get to from the bottom.....why the problem? I'm 59 years old and have no problem. When it's time for a tire rotation, then I get the oil change/rotation special at the dealer.

 

I just did the first one on mine today. Wasn't bad. I will say I've never had to put one of my trucks on ramps to change the oil though. The air dam under the bumper makes it impossible to get under and the truck overall seems to sit lower. I added one of those Fumoto drain valves so I won't have to deal with the oil pan plug anymore.

 

I've used a couple of short pieces of 2x10s to raise my truck 1 1/2" to give me more room to change the oil. Ramps would put it up rather high.

 

Yeah I have ramps made out of wood. They're 8 feet long and have a gradual climb.

 

Why do you think it's so hard to change the oil?

I have a 5.0 and all I need is a 15mm wrench, don't even need an oil filter wrench...

I take it you have a different motor?

 

I have the 2.7L Ecoboost engine. the oil filter sits on top of the motor, and it takes a wierd filter, and a 1-1/16" socket to remove it. Have to change 3 o-rings each time.

The shield under the truck is the real hassle. Even up on ramps, it's not as easy as it should be, and I don't see any real benefit to the shield anyway. If you run over a piece of paper, I guess it would protect the steel oil pan, but hit anything significant and you're on the hook to replace a shield that I'm sure you can only get from Ford at 4 times markup.

I'm tempted to leave the shield off. Would probably help the air flow around the exhaust anyway. Can't believe it gives me 5 extra mpg.